Yesterday we took a day off, our first. We were weary and wary of the next day's 75 mile minimum, and also I wanted to see whether the nurse at Dubois's clinic could say why I have a sore jaw (she couldn't). A relaxing day in a pretty, unpretentious western town.
Knowing today's ride would be our longest so far, we also made it our earliest on the road, 7:30 a.m. The last two days at Dubois the afternoon wind came from the south, and we didn't want to fight that any more than necessary.
The first 20 miles were a cyclist's dream: cool, slight downgrade, slight tailwind, and smooth road. Then we dealt with a few nasty short hills as we entered the Wind River Indian Reservation. We had our eye on Crowheart at 35 miles for lunch, but reached there by 9:45 so we made only a short stop. Crowheart is a store, not a town. They don't allow camping because they don't want more business or more work.
Historical note: the Crowheart name refers to a 19th century battle between Crow and Shoshone Indians for control of the Wind River valley hunting area. Chief Washakie of the Shoshones displayed the heart of an enemy Crow at the victory dance.
The day warmed up and road conditions deteriorated. The narrow shoulder on U.S. 275 has a rumble strip which makes it hard for us, with a 2-wheel trailer, to avoid a constant drumroll vibration that also drags our speed down. When traffic was sparse we avoided the shoulder entirely and rode in the traffic lane, watching and listening for cars back.
Still in the Indian reservation, at mile 60 we reached Ft. Washakie,the only town before Lander. We stopped for lunch at the gas station deli. Sacajawea's grave is at Ft. Washakie, and we rode around looking for it. We found the cemetery but not her grave. We did find Chief Washakie's grave, though.
We rolled into the large (pop 9000) town of Lander and were showered and resting by 3 o'clock. The day was long and we arrived tired, but it was not as hard as we expected.
Today's 78 miles completed our fourth week on the road. Since Astoria, OR we have logged 1350 miles and 59970 feet of climbing.
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